We’ve all, at one time or another, eaten that delicious alcohol-soaked retro classic, rum babà, indeed, you can buy that from us. However, today I want to tell you about a new addition to our store – the ultimate dessert palate pleaser in the form of babà alla Strega. You’ll be completely bewitched from the very first taste – and the pun here is intended because Strega is the Italian word for witch, as well as the name of that beautiful yellow herbal liqueur that we sell at Campania Wines.

The babà didn’t originate in Naples and there’s more than one version of its history so I shall choose my favourite:

Louis XV’s Polish father-in-law, Stanislaus 1st, loved to eat a bit of cake but a batch he’d brought back from one of his voyages had dried up completely. His pâtissier, Nicolas Stohrer, had a brainwave and soaked it in Marsala to make it more palatable. This was an immediate hit, becoming part of the royal menu from that day forward.

Stohrer followed his monarch to Paris and opened a pâtisserie on rue Montorgueil in 1730. It wasn’t until a century later that the idea of soaking the cakes in rum and sugar syrup was born. In the meantime, French chefs were employed by aristocratic Neapolitan families and made the babà their own, using limoncello instead of rum – though purists were adamant that only rum would do.

Enter Alberti and his Liquore Strega. What better liqueur in which to soak hand-crafted cakes made using only the finest ingredients? Treat yourself to a jar or two and you’ll have a sublime dessert ready to eat as soon as you pop open the lid. Serve it with cream or ice cream. Delicious.

Celebrate the new year with a brand new taste experience from Campania Wines!

Auguri per un felice 2017